The present invention relates generally to bag dispensers and, more particularly, to stacked polymer bag dispensers.
At the present time, many retail establishments have eliminated, or substantially reduced, use of conventional paper bags and have replaced these bags with polymer bags. One of the reasons for such replacement is economic since the polymer bags are less expensive to manufacture. In addition, the polymer bag is impervious to liquids and thus has utility in places, such as the produce area of markets, where they are preferred over conventional paper bags that tear when wet.
In some applications, polymer bags are difficult to use. Food markets, for example, utilize rolls containing a substantial number of bags that are attached one to the other in a top to bottom relationship. In use, the topmost bag is separated from the next in order when it is torn therefrom along a line of perforations. The removed bag sometimes presents a challenge to a customer attempting to insert produce into it. Since the top and bottom of the bag are similar it is sometimes difficult to find the bag opening. While this limitation may be only a minor irritant to a shopper in a market, it becomes a serious limitation in cases where it is necessary to insert many newspapers or flyers, one by one, into polymer bags.
Some of the limitations of dispensing polymer bags from a roll are eliminated when the bags are dispensed from a stack. In such cases, it is relatively easy for a user to discern the top of the bag from the bottom and in a typical setting, conventional stacked bags are useful.
However, in cases where it is desirable to insert materials repetitively and rapidly, as in the example of newspapers or flyers, some conventional stacked bags slow up the process because of inherent design limitations, as the user finds it difficult to remove cleanly one bag at a time from the stack.
In conventional stacked bag arrangements, each bag contains a line of perforations that permit a user to tear a bag, from a stack of fifty to a hundred bags, one bag at a time. Conventionally, the line of perforations is generated during the bag conversion process when the plastic film is run under a serrated wheel attached to the bagging machines. The line of perforations separate a bag, which can be torn from the stack, and a lip which remains in the stack. While the lines of perforations produced by the serrated wheel are almost always straight, the position of the lines sometimes shifts slightly from one bag to another.
As a result, when the bags are arranged in a stack, misalignment of lines of perforations, in one bag relative to another, can cause problems for a user attempting to remove a bag from the stack. This limitation is best seen in cases where the user tries to insert material, such as newspapers and flyers, in a short period of time.
A substantial factor causing this problem in conventional stacked bag systems is the aforementioned misalignment of the lines of perforations. As bags are removed, they are separated from their respective lips, which are left behind. The edges of the residual lips are frequently misaligned, because of the failure of lines of perforations to line up uniformly. As a result of lip misalignment, it becomes progressively more difficult to remove a bag from a stack. This limitation can be substantial in some cases, such as newspaper and flyer insertions, where speed and ease of insertion and bag removal from a stack are important considerations.
In view of the foregoing it will be apparent that there is a need for an efficient and effective technique for stacking polymer bags such that individual bags can be readily and conveniently removed. Desirably, such a technique would permit front free disposition of a bag, while it is still part of the stack, to enhance the efficiency and speed of material insertion.